As anyone who performs a lot of mechanical work will attest, nothing beats having the proper tool for a job. The proper tool can save time and money, produces a higher quality job, reduces damage to equipment, and provides for the increased safety of the worker. Each field of mechanical work has its own type of specialty tools, each performing a specialized task. One (1) such task performed by technicians working on railroad signaling or control equipment is that of relay maintenance. Such maintenance often requires the technician to tighten or loosen “e-nuts” while maintaining electrical continuity with the circuit. These “e-nuts” are typically gate mechanisms with adjustable buffers, which are used to move and adjust a position of electrical armatures of coil assemblies. Often times, field adjustments of these connections are necessary and workers often hook electrical leads to the shaft of the adjusting tool such that continuity is maintained during adjustment. However, as the tool is turned, the electrical lead is prone to falling off, causing reading error or perhaps even delays in train operations.
Various attempts have been made to provide current testing devices for use with mechanical adjustment tools that do not break the continuity of the circuit. Examples of these attempts can be seen by reference to several U.S. patents. U.S. Pat. No. 5,512,840, issued in the name of Nogaki, describes electrical test clips for slotted and Phillips screw heads. This patent discloses an electrical test clip that is temporarily attachable to a screw head.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,433,530, issued in the name of Pool, describes a hand held circuit and polarity tester. This patent discloses an electric circuit tester with interchangeable attachments for interacting with a variety of leads and contacts.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,848,139, issued in the name of Simon, describes a combination hand tool and electrical testing device. This patent discloses a device that is a combination of a tool such as wire strippers and an electric circuit testing instrument such as a continuity tester or a voltage detector.
While these devices may fulfill their respective, particular objectives, each of these references suffer from one (1) or more disadvantages. Particularly, none of the prior art devices are suitable for engaging an “e-nut” while maintaining continuity in a circuit.